The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area 2001, the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination noted with concern that, according to the special rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, there is a disturbing correlation between race, both of the victim and the defendant, and the imposition of the death penalty, particularly in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The Committee urged the state party to ensure, possibly by imposing a moratorium, that the death penalty is not imposed as a result of racial bias.118 In its concluding observations on the periodic report of the United States in 2006, the Committee against Torture noted with concern the allegations that the United States had established secret detention facilities that were not accessible to the International Committee of the Red Cross and that detainees were allegedly deprived of fundamental legal safeguards, including an oversight mechanism with regard to their treatment and review procedures with respect to their detention. The Committee considered the “no comment” policy of the state party regarding the existence of such secret detention facilities, as well as on its intelligence activities, to be regrettable.119 Foreign nationals The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations provides that state authorities must inform foreign nationals without delay of their right to have their consulate notified of their detention.120 On 31 March 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the United States had violated its obligation to inform foreign nationals without delay of their right to have their consulate notified of their detention in 51 of the 52 cases of Mexican nationals brought before it by Mexico.121 The ICJ held that the United States should review the convictions and sentences in each case and determine whether the failure to provide consular notification caused actual prejudice to the defendant in the process of administration of criminal justice. On 28 February 2005, the US president issued a memorandum to the US attorney general affirming that the United States would comply with the ICJ judgement.122 The result has been a number of cases 118  Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: the United States of America, U.N. Doc. A/56/18, 14 August 2001, para. 396. 119  Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee against Torture: United States of America, U.N. Doc. CAT/C/USA/CO/2, 25 July 2006, para. 17. 120  Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963. 121  Case concerning Avena and other Mexican nationals (Mexico v. United States of America), 31 March 2004. The International Court of Justice made a similar ruling in the LaGrande case (Germany v. United States), 27 June 2001. 122  Mexico v. United States of America, 31 March 2004. 37